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To avoid further deaths like Nirbhaya's, here's what the political class must do

She died on Saturday. But not before her indomitable struggle against inhuman odds captured the imagination of an entire nation.

Dec 31, 2012, 12.00 AM IST

She died on Saturday. But not before her indomitable struggle against inhuman odds captured the imagination of an entire nation. Not unlike 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai's victimisation and bravery had done in neighbouring Pakistan. If comparison is at all possible in such cases, the tribulations of Nirbhaya (as this newspaper has named her) were much worse. And she didn't survive. One of these two bravehearts had merely wanted an education, while the other wanted to travel the streets of the national capital safely. Not too much to ask for, surely.

Young and old, male and female, rich and poor, from Mumbai to Kolkata, from Srinagar to Thiruvananthapuram, citizens have been speaking up since that dark night of December 16, when Nirbhaya fought back bravely against her rapists in the country's capital. For a shocked political class, the question must be that what is it about Nirbhaya's case that has made it such a lightning rod, stirring up a storm of anger not just in Delhi but nationally as well? Sexual harassment and rape are unfortunately commonplace in India, as brutal incidents reported even in the interim attest. Widespread protests - spontaneous and voluntary - against such brutalities are not.

Still, history is replete with dates on which people said stop; we won't take degradation anymore. So it is that the raped and murdered paramedical student has become a symbol for many of us. She was studying, working, watching a film, commuting, and had the right to be safe while exercising the right to create a better life.

In the circumstances it won't be enough for the political class to make soothing, emollient noises, hoping that the clamour will die down. The litmus test is what they are willing to do to combat the rising graph of barbaric violence against women. Security, after all, isn't for VIPs alone. It's a fundamental human entitlement.

It's right to say that there is no quick-fix vaccine against gendered violence: a culture of disrespect for women can't be remodelled by policing and judicial reforms alone. It's wrong to underestimate the reach of such reforms. If police are accountable not just to the political classes but to ordinary citizens as well, if there are more police officers active on the streets, if there are more women police officers, if a zero-tolerance policy with respect to crime against women (of any magnitude) is enforced from top to bottom, if police personnel guilty of such crimes are swiftly punished, clearly articulated values in the administration will quickly feed into society at large.

Back in 2006, Supreme Court had mandated sweeping police reforms, including a police complaint authority to pronounce binding recommendations in response to public complaints in every district. There has been little progress on this, mainly because control over police forces is seen as a fundamental perk of political power. This encourages a mutually back-scratching relationship between ruling politicians and senior police officers, to the detriment of security for the common citizen. Will any political party now have the gumption to break up this cosy relationship by calling for police reforms, as well as implementing them where it is in power?

Another institutional test of whether a party is willing to put its money where its mouth is, can be how quickly states can set up fast-track courts to try crimes against women. This, however, won't succeed in isolation as it requires ramping up both speed and numbers in the judicial system as a whole. Back in 2002, the apex court had exhorted India to progressively achieve a judge per million population ratio of 50, as in the US. It has only crawled to around 15 now from 10.5 in 1987. Along with police reforms, judicial reforms must also be the order of the day.

As part of zero-tolerance policing, it's essential to have a system of calibrated and proportionate system of punishing crimes against women, depending on the degree of the offence. If even minor street harassment (commonly known as 'eve-teasing') is visibly and swiftly punished, more heinous crimes will be deterred and the message will go out that crimes against women are taken seriously.

And of course, the minimum that people now expect is exemplary punishment for Nirbhaya's tormentors. It has become clear that when masses of citizens collectively raise their voices in a common cause, the government cannot ignore them. Words, intentions and assurances will not suffice any more. These are some of the deliverables against which any government will be judged. Nirbhaya wasn't asking for too much. We aren't asking for too much.

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